Poisoned
by Lynn DiNozzo
Summary: Ziva and Abby are mysteriously poisoned. What will happen when Tony and McGee are told by Gibbs to take care of them? - "Well, with Kate, we had a great partnership. We laughed and joked together, then she was killed and—and I didn't know what to do." Tony smiled "But then, then this Israeli/Mossad agent showed up, she has changed my life in many ways, even saved it a few times!"
1. Poisoned

_A/N: Hey Everyone! Welcome to my story! As my bio says, I am in high-school, so I'm very busy. I'm going to try my very, very best to post a chapter every 7-8 days, sometimes they will be early, some will be late. If they are going to be more than 2 weeks late, I will tell you. This is my very first fanfiction story, so forgive me if it isn't the most well written story you've read, but I do try my best! Some chapters will be long, others, not so much! Reviews are welcomed, even criticism! Thank you for reading, and enjoy! ~ Lynn D._

* * *

_*Flashback*_

_It was 7 years ago that Brice Camden attempted to murder Petty Officer James Tuscan. Luckily, Brice had been under surveillance by Gibbs' team for stealing life-threatening poisonous gas from Bethesda. The team had a very slow week, so they decided to follow Brice around for awhile to see if they could charge him with anything; little did they know, it was going to be more than a drug bust. _

* * *

_ Gibbs drove silently by a few houses behind Brice and he pulled up to an unfamiliar house. _

_"McGee! Run the address and find out who lives here." Shortly after…"Boss, this is Petty Officer James Tuscan's house." _

_"Alright," Gibbs said "Let's stick around for awhile to see if anything happens". _

_Not long after, Gibbs silenced Tony and Ziva's bickering so he could hear what was going on. Still not able to hear anything, he told Ziva and Tony to take the back, while he and McGee took the front. _

_The got out of the car and swiftly ran up to the house. "Tony – Ziva? You in position?" "Yea boss, we're ready." Tony kicked in the door, and Ziva headed in first. "Tony" she whispered "I'm going to check the bedroom". With a nod from Tony, she swiftly ran into the room still hearing the oblivious men in the next room. _

_"Please! Please! Don't do it!" One of the most bonechilling voice's she'd ever heard gave the response, "You really don't have a choice now do you?" _

_With that, Ziva jumped into action, without even pulling her gun, she kicked in the door and immediately jumped on top on Brice who was ontop of the bed with James pinned underneath him, pulling the knife off of James' neck along with him. _

_Right when she was getting her handcuffs out, Gibbs and McGee arrived. Gibbs seeing Tony with his mouth wide open, he earned a headslap from his boss. "Sorry boss", Tony said, slightly pained. _

_"Ziva?" Gibbs growled "What do you think you were doing? You should have waited for Tony's back-up!" _

_"Look, I'm sorry! I saw that the Petty Officer was in danger, and my reflexes just kicked in!" With that, handcuffs were put onto Brice, when Ziva finally pulled him all the way off of James; she whispered something very vulgar into his ear._

* * *

_The ride back to NCIS was quite, well, cramped and quiet. Without the second car they usually brought when they were planning on arresting someone, Gibbs put Brice next to Tony in the backseat, Ziva was in the passenger seat, and Gibbs drove. He left McGee behind to stay with James until Ducky came to take care of James' minor cuts as well as collect anything from the house that may help convict Brice._

* * *

_Once Brice taken to interrogation to be left with his thoughts for awhile, Gibbs went down the Abby's lab to see if she had found anything on the computer they had taken from Brice's house. _

_"Hey Gibbs!" _

_"I see someone is getting better at hearing me coming!" Gibbs said with a smile and a Caf Pow! _

_"Well, after 10 years of working with you, I've started to learn some of your patterns!" _

_Gibbs smirked "Whatcha got Abs?" "Don't have much" with that, a sigh came from Gibbs _

_"BUT, I have enough to put that Brice guy in prison for the next 15 years! He documented all of his plans for killing James in his hard drive – what a dummy!" _

_"Thanks Abs". After a quick kiss on the cheek, he headed back to that infamous elevator._

* * *

_When Brice was interrogated, he admitted everything, and was sent to prison until his trial. After 4 months, word was sent to Gibbs' team that Brice was sentenced to 15 years in prison for attempted murder, stealing poisonous gas from Bethesda and endangering the welfare of the citizens. From that day on, he swore he would get revenge on the two people that made his life this way – that stupid Israeli agent and that forensic chic._

* * *

*Present Day*

"Tony?!" yelled Ziva "When are you going to get it?"

"Just hold your horses crazy ninja, I just have to finish this report". Ziva mumbled something in Hebrew and considered getting it herself, but decided that was probably what Tony wanted, so she'd just wait.

She had bet Tony that she could hit Harper Dearing's photo which hung on the wall outside of MTAC with a rubber band all the way from his chair. She set her stake as if she won, she would make him buy her her favorite smoothie, Berry Mango Madness. His stake was he would make her do his next case file.

With everything ready, Ziva practically pushed Tony out of his chair so she could get this over with. The ex-Mossad killer sat down, pulled the rubber band back, aimed, and swiftly let go of the item which promptly hit the picture of their most recent terrorist right on the forehead. Ziva stood with a smirk on her face.

With a look of pure shock on Tony's face, he timidly sat down, aimed, released, and missed, quite badly at that. Satisfied, Ziva moved back over to her desk and hadn't stopped bugging Tony for her smoothie for that whole hour.

"Tony!" Gibbs shouted

"Yes Boss?" Tony timidly replied "Just get off your butt and get Ziva what she wants."

"Yes Boss". Tony quickly finished up his report, then headed to 'The Smoothie Shack' which was only a few miles down the road.

He parked the car then headed into the very brightly colored shop.

"Hi! My name is Luke! Can I help you?" Tony put on a fake smirk "Yea, I lost a bet, I need one of those berry madness thingys"

Luke snickered "Uh, I think you mean the 'Berry Mango Madness', it's the most popular drink in our shop!"

Tony sighed "Yea, whatever, Just make it so I can get out of here and back to my work!"

"Alright man! Coming right up!" said the overly enthusiastic cashier.

With Tony still being pissed by losing that stupid bet, he didn't even notice a figure slipping out from behind the shadows, while Luke's back was turned helping a very loud complaining customer. The figure very discreetly slipped something recently missing into Ziva's drink and slipping back as quickly as it came.

Tony paid for the drink, picked it up, and promptly left feeling very defeated. As Tony drove back to NCIS, he decided it would be dumb to spend the rest of the day angry, I mean, he had accepted the bet, and really, he wasn't going to get headslapped for $3.50!

He drove into his usual spot in the parking lot and as we walked into the bullpen after getting off the elevator put on his famous grin and plopped the drink on Ziva's desk. "Here you are my queen!"

Ziva smiled "Thank you Tony! I didn't expect you to be so…okay with losing the bet" Tony smirked

"Hey, you are my partner, if a guy can't do something nice once in awhile, then he really isn't a guy, he's just a jerk".

Ziva smiled at his honesty "Well, I really do appreciate it, I am feeling a little off today, hopefully this will help me feel better."

With some brotherly concern kicking in he asked "What's the matter?"

"Oh", she sighed "I think it's just my time of the month" Ziva thought, Hey, the guy should know the truth, I have to have his back. "Thanks for being concerned, it means a lot!"

Tony thinking of Abby's comment a few months back "You're welcome sis!"

Gibbs glanced up at Tony's comment after listening to this very unusual conversation between his usually bickering agents. Putting it aside, figuring it was the least of his concerns at the moment. He checked his watch and decided it being almost 2 o'clock he should go get his favorite forensic scientist her favorite form of caffeine.

Even though there was no case right now, she was still working on cold cases to keep her busy. After getting outside he headed towards the Caf Pow! Booth which just happened to be right next to the coffee station.

As he was walking, he sighed, thinking "…killer after killer, will they ever stop?" He was feeling glum today because it would've been his and Shannon's wedding anniversary today.

Sucking it up in his usual gruff marine way, he reached the booth and gruffly ordered "One Usual".

"Right on it Agent Gibbs" replied Angela, she was a college student who just had just recently gotten the job and was trying her best to stay on top of things.

Without missing a step, he headed towards the coffee station while his other order was being filled. This would be his 6th cup of the day.

Angela turned to the machine filled with the red caffeine as she watched Gibbs leave. After filling up the insanely big cup, she turned around too quickly and knocked over the whole column of neatly stacked cups.

A bit startled Gibbs looked back and saw the mess, so he decided he would sit down for a few minutes, he'd been busy all day, the special agent figured he deserved it.

As the flustered girl was cleaning everything up, the infamous figure slipped from behind the booth, distributed what he came to complete, then disappeared just as if he was ghost…

* * *

"Abs? Have you got anything?" Gibbs asked as he walked towards the pig-tail wearing scientist.

"Well," Abby grinned as she sipped some of the drink "it looks like I've got a Caf Pow!" Abby cleared her throat "Gibbs?" she paused then quietly continued "I know what today is. Are you okay?"

Gibbs sighed, but then smiled at her concern "Abs, I miss my girls every single day, but then I turn around and I have you and the rest of my team to fill, or at least cushion that void in my life."

"Wow!" Abby replied "Haven't heard you say that much at once unless you are signing!" Gibbs leaned over and kissed Abby on the cheek and exited feeling a little bit better about the day.

* * *

_9o'clock in the bullpen_

Tony was finally finishing the last report on his desk. McGee had gone to get some coffee because he was in the middle of working on a very in-depth cold case. Gibbs was checking his e-mail for the first time that month. Ziva was leaning over on her desk with her head in her hands.

Tony, wondering why it was so quiet looked up to see Ziva looking very queasy. "Ziva?" he whispered "Are you feeling alright?"

Ziva took a deep breath and looked up hoping she wouldn't lose everything she ate right then and there "I don't feel the best, that's for sure, but I really do think it's just my time or something". "Hey – I think it's more than that" Tony said.

Ziva mumbled something unrecognizeable and just laid her head back down on her desk until Gibbs released them for the night.

"Boss?" Tony asked

"What DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked as he looked up

"I'm done with my report" Tony said as he closed the folder "I think I'm just going to drive Ziva home"

Ziva looked up as she heard this "Tony, really! I'm going to be fine!"

She tried to stand up to prove it, but she started to wobble. Tony rushed over to her right as she began to fall over.

"Oh Ziva!" Tony exclaimed "you are burning up!"

Gibbs rushed over to her "Ziver? What happened to you? You were fine all day!"

Ziva couldn't even answer, she was being laid down on the floor with Tony supporting her head in his lap.

He felt her head with the back of his hand "Boss! She isn't just 'fine'"

Ziva didn't register the danger of this situation as she began to zone in and out of consciousness. At that moment McGee walked in, very confused by the sight before his eyes. "What's going on, Boss?!"

"Something happened to Ziva, we need to get her to a hospital."

A thought struck McGee "Abby and Ziva were supposed to go have a girl's night tonight, I'd better go and tell Abby"

"McGee, you go do that and ask Abby to come along, I think we may need a woman's touch around the hospital"

Tony smiled "Ziva will appreciate that, thanks Boss".

McGee ran dashed down to the lab to tell the un-expecting scientist.

Right after the agent left, Tony picked Ziva up from the floor wedding style and headed to the elevator.

* * *

McGee gasped from what he saw as he reached the lab and then started shouting "HELP! HELP! PLEASE! WE NEED HELP HERE!"

* * *

_A/N: Well, what'd ya think? I hope you liked it! Make sure and review below!_


	2. Hospital Visit

_A/N: Hey! I really appreciate all the sweet reviews that I've found in my inbox the past few days! Thank you guys so much! I want to give a shout-out to NCISVU for being invaluable to the progress of this! You should check out her page, she's such a great writer! Enjoy the update! ~Lynn D._

* * *

Gibbs looked up from helping Ziva because he heard a very faint voice coming from somewhere downstairs, and his gut told him something was very, very wrong. He looked at Tony "DiNozzo?"

Tony looked up from comforting Ziva who was still resting her head in his lap "Yes Boss?"

"Do you hear that?" Gibbs asked, thinking his hearing was betraying him.

Tony closed his eyes and concentrated, a few seconds later he opened his eyes "Yea, it sounds like it's coming from downstairs, maybe the lab?"

That was enough for Gibbs, as he stood up and ran towards the stairs. Tony caught the glimpse of fear in Gibbs' eyes and he rushed off after his boss.

* * *

"Oh Abby" McGee cried desperately as he rushed to her side and put his hand on her forehead "What happened to you?" Getting more and more jumpy he almost jumped towards Gibbs when he finally heard him come down, apparently he had used the stairs because he hadn't heard the elevator ding.

"GIBBS!" McGee shouted as the worried special agent and Tony ran into the lab.

Gibbs didn't say anything to Tim, the only think on his mind was helping Abby in any way he could, he couldn't lose her, she and Ziva were like his little girls and he would do anything and everything to protect them. Gibbs knelt down beside Abby and in a very soft, quiet tone he asked "Abby? Can you hear me?"

The very faintest reply was a hushed mumble coming from the girl.

Relieved that she wasn't completely unconscious, he sighed and Tony asked for his boss "Alright, McGoo, what happened?"

Still shocked from the events of the last few minutes, it took a sharp "McGee!" from Gibbs, who had finally started focusing on Tony and McGee's conversation instead of focusing everything on Abby, to snap him out of his thoughts.

"I don't know Boss, I just came down here to get Abby for Ziva…" Almost right together, both men looked at each other and exclaimed "Ziva! We forgot about Ziva!"

"Okay" said Gibbs, regaining his composure, he looked at Tony and McGee "Get Abby and bring her up to the bullpen, I've gotta tell Vance about this, there's something strange going on here. Take Abby and Ziva to Bethesda, I don't want this to go any further!

I need to find out what's going on around here! After I brief Vance I'll meet you at the hospital" He looked at his agents still standing there "Hurry Up!"

"On it Boss!" McGee and DiNozzo jumped into action, McGee insisted on carrying Abby upstairs since he found her, and Tony went with him in the elevator to push the buttons for him.

Gibbs let the guys have the elevator and he ran up the stairs to the bullpen and then up to Vance's office just beyond the catwalk.

* * *

"Vance!"

"Gibbs?! What is it?" The director asked in his usual gruff tone.

"Something happened to Abby and Ziva, they're both burning up – Ziva is awake but she's lost consciousness a few times and Abby is out of it. DiNozzo and McGee are taking them to Bethesda and I'm going now".

With that, the confused and frazzled special agent left.

"Keep me posted!" yelled Vance "It's my team too!" Gibbs let Vance's office just as quickly as he'd appeared.

* * *

"What are you guys doing in here?" Gibbs asked angrily as he slid into the driver's seat. "I thought I told you to get them to Bethesda!"

"Sorry, Boss," Tony said, "we're a little shaken up."

"I'm not sure if we trust ourselves to get them there safely," McGee added.

"Besides, with your driving you probably would've beat us to the hospital anyways," Tony joked. He wasn't exactly in a joking mood but humor was a defense mechanism for him.

Gibbs nodded that he understood as he sped off towards the hospital.

* * *

"Dang It" Gibbs muttered under his breath as a busy-street red light had stopped him from going an obscene speed. As he was stopped, he looked over at Ziva who had been gently laid in the passenger seat.

The ex-marine lifted his hand and gently brushed a stray strand of hair off her sweaty face. "Oh Ziver" Gibbs whispered "Stay strong for me".

McGee looked up from holding Abby, who was burning up and unconscious; at Gibbs, who was acting very different then he'd ever seen his Boss act before. He looked back down as the car sped up again once the light had finally turned green.

* * *

They reached the hospital in record time thanks to Gibbs' trusty Charger and Gibbs' impressive driving skills. Gibbs sent Tony inside ahead of them while he found a parking place to get some wheelchairs for the both unconscious women.

Once inside, McGee looked over to the directory to find out which floor the ER was on.

Gibbs who was just running into the hospital after illegally parking as close to the door as he could; saved McGee the trouble and yelled, "The ER is on the first floor, McGee. Always is."

Slightly embarrassed, McGee pushed Abby's wheelchair down the long, vacant hallway, hurrying after Tony who was trying to keep Ziva's head from bouncing side to side as he pushed her in the wheelchair. Gibbs raced ahead of them, wanting to get to the ER first to make sure the doctors were ready for them.

Just a couple minutes later, the group entered the ER and Gibbs ran towards the front desk and flashed his badge "Agent Gibbs, NCIS. We've got an agent and scientist that need treatment NOW!"

The nurse sitting at the desk looked over at the girls in the wheelchairs and picked up the intercom "Doctor Matthews, please come to the front desk."

Less than a minute later the weary physician walked through the doors leading towards the rooms."What is it Liz?"

She pointed over to Gibbs"This gentl..er, Special Agent Gibbs needs help with these women".

Gibbs gave the doctor a run down on what had happened to Abby and Ziva and asked that things be hurried up "We've had to drive all the way over here and get them in here, I don't know what's going on with them, and frankily, I'm worried about them"

McGee and Tony's head's shot up after they heard that, they'd never heard their boss say he was worried, they could feel in their own guts that this was VERY serious.

Gibbs continued "So, we need help for them NOW!" he nearly yelled, causing Doctor Matthews looked up very abruptly "Yes, of course Agent Gibbs, we'll do what we can for them immediately, but first, I need to get them into MRI to see if there is any strange brain activity going on."

With that, he motioned towards Liz to take them to the back.


	3. Visiting Abby

_A/N: Hey everyone! Someone commented on how I'm using too many exclamations points. I realize I am, but this is a very serious situation when the team would be very stressed and worried, so that is the reason I'm doing that. Thanks for everyone's reviews! ~ Lynn D. _

* * *

_2 Hours Later_

Even after 2 hours, Gibbs hadn't cooled off from the quarrel with the doctor. With him still huffing, McGee and Tony paced and worried, but made sure to pace away from Gibbs, by the vending machines. The adrenaline had started to wear off for Tim and Tony about 20 minutes ago, so they began to crash, with it nearing midnight.

McGee began to whine that he was tired, but underneath the stress was attacking his heart and mind so harshly he could hardly stand.

With Tony getting more and more grumpy, he wouldn't have it, "McWhiner! Stop it already! Here's a buck, go get a nutter butter," motioning towards the machine "so now you can just shut-up!"

"Sorry Tony, I'm really not in the mood for one."

"Woah! The McGeek doesn't want a nutter butter?! This should be set down as history!"

"Tony, please, give me a break," McGee pleaded.

With DiNozzo deciding to leave him alone, Gibbs sent them both to the cafeteria to get some dinner for them all, as well as to give them all time to think and cool down.

As Gibbs saw his two agents head down the long corridor he really started letting his thoughts get the best of him. _"What if it's really serious? What if my girls don't make it? GIBBS! Stop thinking like that, you've gotta stay strong and think positive…"_

* * *

Walking into the cafeteria, Tony wondered "Okay McGee, what should we get the bossman?"

"I don't know what he likes, you'd think after knowing him for so long I—"

"McGee! Stop rambling!"

"Sorry Tony, I do that when I get nervous, I just don't know how—"

"MCGEE!" McGee covered his mouth and decided it was best to just shut-up "Get what you want, choose whatever for me, I'm gonna go sit down."

"K" said Tony as he came to the front of the line .

As McGee found an empty booth, he slid to the end and just bent over and put his head in his hands, deciding it was time he cleared his head _"Hmm, okay, Abby and Ziva have somehow been given something to make them like this"_ he thought, recalling what the doctor had mentioned "_What could it be? I don't know what I'd do if I actually lost them…especially Abby._

Tony finished buying their dinners and headed back to the booth McGee had chosen. _"What's the McGeek doing?"_

As he reached the booth, he set the tray on the table. "Ehm!"

"What's the—Oh, it's just you…"

Tony looked at Tim as he set the tray on the table, "Just me?! I bring food!"

"Oh, thanks Tony, I guess I kinda zoned out there for a sec" Tony snickered "yea, you could say that"

"How can you be so happy Tony?!" McGee snapped "Don't you get it? We could lose both Ziva AND Abby! How can you stand there and just laugh?!"

Tony sat down and sighed "McGee, I'm going to break a rule, I'm sorry. When I'm under stress sometimes it's just easier to make jokes. You weren't here yet when I had the plague, I was joking almost my whole way through that, even when I felt like hell. It's just the way I handle stressful situations."

Shocked by Tony's honesty, McGee straightened up in his seat "Sorry for snapping at you, I get it."

* * *

_45 Minutes Later_

"Hey! Tony! Quit it!" McGee shouted, as more crumpled food packaging flew to his head, missing the trash can by afar.

"Boss! Tell McGee to quit ordering me around!" Even after talking, they just needed to yell off some frustrations.

"Why don't both of ya, just shut-up!" Gibbs said as he rolled his eyes, he didn't think he'd be running a preschool when he gained his own team. Some days it got on his nerves so much he wanted to shoot 'em, but others, it was the only thing that got him through the rough cases, and quite frankly, the tough days.

"Special Agent Gibbs?" Doctor Matthews asked as he walked into the vacant waiting room. Snapping out of his thoughts, he stood up right before the other 2 agents did as well.

"I've got some good news, and I've got some bad news, which would you like to hear first?" asked the physician

"Good!" McGee said almost desperately "Please, I need to hear something good after all of this agonizing waiting!"

"Okay, Agent McGee" said the doctor looking at his chart "Miss Sciuto woke up about 10 minutes ago, but isn't doing very well…" with that, Tim decided his should sit "…She has a fever of 102, which is very, very high. She may slip back into unconsciousness as quickly as she woke up out of it. At the moment, we aren't quite sure what's going on."

Looking to Agent DiNozzo, remembering he had brought Ziva in, the doctor continued "Miss David, however, I'm sorry to say, is not doing as well as Miss Sciuto" with that, Tony decided he should follow Tim's lead and sit as well. This was not the time he needed to be strong.

Continuing, the physician said "Miss David has a fever of 102.3 and, sadly, is not conscious. Which, at this point, is not a good sign. We need to know how much she is comprehending and her stability is not measured as well when she isn't awake."

Gibbs sighed very sadly "Okay, so, what can be done for them?"

"Right now, we aren't going do anything besides pump fluids into their IV's and keeping them cool to try and keep their fevers down, there isn't much else we can do until we find out what has caused this sudden and serious illness. It's also very strange that it's just the women that have gotten sick, if it was an airborne disease, then everyone in the building would be sick." Explained the doctor.

With all of this new information, Gibbs was really starting to worry, but kept it very well hidden, he needed to now be strong for the team. He knew that at the sight of Abby, McGee would break down, and the same for Tony when he looked at Ziva.

But, he still decided it was time "Can we see them?"

"Yes, of course" looking at his chart once again "Miss Sciuto is in room 270 – down the hall, 2nd door on your right and Miss David is in room 325, upstairs, to the right, then up the hall, 4th door on your left."

"What?!" exclaimed Tony "They need to be in the same room! They can't be a whole level apart!" he nearly shouted

"DiNozzo! Hold on, we'll get this straightened out soon enough. For now, this will be fine. Let's go see Abs first since she is closest, then we'll go check in on Ziva." He said trying to calm Tony down. He understood him, he didn't want the girls to be separated either.

Looking over at McGee, he noticed he wasn't functioning very well, the only thing he could do was stare into space "McGee? Are you okay?"

"Hu? Wa? Oh Boss, yea, I'm er, fine!" he said as he caught up to Tony who was already starting to walk towards Abby's room.

A couple minutes later, Tony smiled "Ha! Found it! Room 270!" he opened the door and went in smiling and started to try and think of some things that would cheer Abby up, since he knew she was awake.

McGee was right behind Tony and Gibbs at the very end as they walked in. Tony went in head first, the first thing he noticed was that all her make-up had been taken off. For the first time, he really noticed how pretty she was. The nurse had taken her pig-tails out, and sweat was holding strands of hair to her face.

"Hey Abs!" he whispered

"How are ya feeling?" jumped in McGee.

Abby's eyes fluttered open and a small smile graced her lips as she saw the 3 most important men in her life standing before her. "I'm really, real—" she yawned "sorry, just really tired."

Gibbs smiled, glad that Abby was conscious and she remembered everyone alright. "That's okay Abs, you just go to sleep!" he said as he bent down and kissed her forehead.

When they were all about to leave, she almost shot right up "OH! Where's Ziva? She must be still waiting at the bar, we were goi—"

"Abs, slow down. Lie back down" Gibbs said as he laid her back down in the hospital bed "Ziva knows where you are, and wished she could be here. She just had to get a few things finished at the office."

With Abby in the state she was in, Abby was just glad her friend was alright, she didn't process that Gibbs' response didn't make any sense.

As the 3 agents walked out of the dark hospital room, McGee turned around and headed to the water fountains. Gibbs looked over at his youngest agent and began to walk towards him, but decided to leave him be, at least for the moment. "Tony?"

"Yes Boss?" Gibbs took a deep breath, trying to think "Go ahead and go up to Ziva's room, we'll be up in a few."

Tony didn't even reply, he just got on the nearest elevator. With that, Gibbs turned with the intention of getting McGee, when he looked over he was sitting on the floor with his legs pulled to his chest and his head resting on his knees.

Gibbs sighed, knowing this wasn't going to be fixed with a pat on the back, this was serious.

* * *

_A/N: __Make sure and remember to review! They mean the world to me! ~Lynn D._


	4. Scared

_A/N: After a wonderful vacation, I'm now back and bearing my next chapter! I've yet to start on my 5th chapter (shame on me), SO my next update won't be immediate, but hopefully by next weekend! Thank you all again for the wonderful reviews! ~Lynn D._

* * *

"Tim, get up." He obeyed, but still stayed solemn.

Gibbs walked over and opened the janitor's closet, he nodded his head to the side and walked inside. McGee looked down the hall towards Abby's room, then followed his boss inside.

Gibbs, who was sitting down on an upturned bucket, looked up at McGee then pointed towards another bucket. As McGee sat down, he began to wonder what was going on.

"Boss?" he asked, unsure of himself.

"Tim, penny for your thoughts?"

The younger agent sighed, "I really don't want to talk about it."

"That's fine," Gibbs said "I'm going to do the talking, for the time being anyway"

Tim looked up, wanting to pay attention, he was pretty sure this was going to be worth listening to.

"McGee, I know this is going to be hard, for all of us, but especially for you." McGee jerked his head up in shock

"Oh Tim! Do you really think that I didn't know you two had a fling before you came over from Norfolk?!"

"I was kinda hoping you didn't, Boss." Tim said as he looked down in embarrassment "But it really wasn't a fling, I mean, we didn't 'do' anything. In fact, we just went on a couple dates – that was pretty much it."

Gibbs looked at Tim, surprised, but believed his young agent. "Alright, I'm going to get to the point."

Catching the Probie's attention once again. Taking a deep breath, Gibbs began "When Shannon was pregnant with Kelly, she would've been 5 months along, she got a really, really bad flu." He stopped to take a breath as sadness filled his eyes "A couple nights into it, she woke up in the middle of the night coughing extremely hard; it was the scariest time of my life. I knew if I didn't act quickly, I would lose the love of my life and my first child."

He stopped again and he looked over at McGee who was listening intently with sadness as well in his eyes.

"I don't think I've jumped into action quicker, I picked up Shannon, carried her down the stairs, grabbed my keys and ran out to the car. The ride to the hospital was the most agonizing ride ever. Shannon was in the hospital for 4 days, I had a lot of time to think. The night I brought her in, she could've easily died; Kelly was weighing her down so much I almost had to make the decision to either keep Shannon or Kelly. I made a promise to myself that night, I'd never lose ANY women in my life, even if I died trying to save them. That's why I was so broken when Jenny was killed. I will never let anything happen to my girls – McGee, I promise you that."

"Boss," said McGee sadly "you can't promise something like that, I mean, you lost Shannon and Kelly, even if it wasn't that night."

Gibbs looked down, and McGee could've sworn he saw tears in his bosses' eyes. "Yes, McGee I did. I can not change that, I wasn't there for them like I should've been as a husband and father, I'll never forgive myself for that. I'm here, however, for Abby and Ziva."

McGee looked at his Boss with a whole new appreciation from then on.

Gibbs sighed, "Alright McGee, are you ready to go see Ziva now?"

McGee smiled for the first time that night "Sounds good, Boss."

* * *

**_20 Minutes Ago_**

_ "Tony?" "Yes Boss?" Gibbs took a deep breath, trying to think "Go ahead and go up to Ziva's room, we'll be up in a few." Tony didn't even reply, he just got on the nearest elevator._

* * *

-**Meanwhile-**

Tony jumped on the nearest elevator and pushed the 'level 3' button. Which reminded him that he needed to get the doctor to put the girls in the same room. "Okay," Tony said to himself as the doors opened to level 3 "room 325…go to the right" as he turned "up the hall…2nd door on the ri- found you!"

He stopped right in front of the closed door. Tony was actually nervous for the first time – with Abby, I mean, she is like his little sister, maybe not by blood, but by love. But Ziva, Ziva was, well, she is different. He had to admit it, she is beautiful! Sometimes the way the sun would catch her eyes was just breathtaking.

"Okay DiNozzo! Wake Up!" Tony said to himself. He fixed his shirt, ran a hand through his hair and walked inside.

"Ziva?" He asked softly as he walked towards the hospital bed where she was lying. He was almost upset that they had put her in a normal hospital bed, she was worth more than that. Once he reached her, he was not expecting what he saw before him.

What he saw stopped him in his tracks. Tony was expecting her to be looking somewhat like Abby, in fact, a little better since she was stronger. The Senior Agent was not prepared for this.

Ziva lay sprawled out over the bed –sweat covered her from head to toe. The cheap hospital gown was plastered to her body. Her beautiful long brown hair was scraggly and sweaty and it covered half of her face, somewhat like Abby's. Tony took a deep breath and closed the gap between them.

As he sat down on the side of the bed, he sighed "Oh Ziva, what happened?" he asked as he leaned over and kissed the top of her forehead" I didn't think anything could take down my ninja!" he smirked, trying to lighten the atmosphere "_she probably would've just killed me if she was awake!"_

He wanted so badly for her to just open her deep brown eyes and tell him everything is okay and that this was just some terrible prank. But as the minutes passed, he became more and more aware of the fact that this was real, and this was bad. Getting jumpy, he stood and walked over to the window which covered the back wall that was parallel to Ziva's bed.

As he stared out the window, he noticed just how late it had gotten, he looked down at his watch and noticed it was nearing 2a.m. His gaze drifted back to the window as he sat on the couch right underneath the pane. The stars weren't out that night, neither was the moon, it was just pitch-black. He figured it was fitting for tonight.

"Ehm!" Doctor Matthews said, breaking Tony from his thoughts.

"Hm? Whah? Oh! Yes?" asked Tony, still slightly aggravated that the girls still hadn't been moved to the same room.

"I was making my rounds for the hour and saw you standing there, I didn't want to startle you."

"Oh" said Tony, relaxing a little bit "well, thanks…I guess."

"As long as you are in here, I'll give you an update on Miss David." The doctor said as he looked towards her. Tony stood up when he heard that, not wanting to miss a word.

"The reason she is so much weaker than Miss Sciuto is that she is on her menstrual cycle" began the doctor "it makes her immune system much, much weaker."

Pushing all that aside, scared he may break the family rule that DiNozzo's don't cry, Tony asked a serious question right as Gibbs and McGee walked in "Have you figured out what has made them so sick?"

Doctor Matthews sighed deeply and Gibbs knew that was a very bad sign. "Miss David and Miss Scuito have been poisoned."

"WHAT?!" Tony shouted "who the hell would want to poison Ziva and Abs?! You _must_ be mistaken."

"I'm sorry Mr. DiNozzo, I'm afraid I'm not."

"Tony! Calm down!" Gibbs ordered

"Calm down? You want me to calm down? Did you just hear what he said?" Tony asked, pointing to Doctor Matthews, ignoring that he called him 'Mr.'

"Yes Tony, I did, but we still need to stay calm."

"Aren't you at all worried?" Tony retaliated. With that, Gibbs walked over to DiNozzo and wacked him very, very hard on the back of the head, then went back over to stand next to McGee, who needed his support the most at the moment.

After McGee had been feeling better from him and Gibbs' conversation not 5 minutes ago, then hearing such bad news, it shocked his system. Thankfully, Gibbs saw it coming and right as McGee began to pass out, he reached out and caught McGee, then lowered him to the floor.

"Tony, come over here and hold McGee's feet up." Feeling embarrassed about back-talking to his boss, he decided it would be best if he did what Gibbs asked, even if fhe wasn't sure why.

Tony knelt down and lifted McGee's legs like he was told. "Um, Boss?"

Doctor Matthews cut in, "It's to get blood flow back to his brain; it'll revive him."

"Oh...thanks!" Tony commented.

Gibbs a little annoyed about being interrupted began calling McGee's name.

A few seconds later, McGee began to open his eyes and start to sit up, very confused "What happened, Boss?" he asked as he looked around, trying to establish where he was.

"Ya fainted, McScare," helped Tony.

"Oh, yea, I remember." He said sadly as Gibbs helped him over to the couch. "Thanks Boss."

Gibbs smirked, even in the worst situations that boy would always be polite.

"Okay" said Gibbs as he walked over to the doctor who was check Ziva's heart rate "Now that you know what has happened, what can you do to treat them?"

The doctor sighed and rubbed his forehead "That's the bad part.."

"You mean the part about Ziva and Abby being poisoned wasn't the bad part?!" yelled Tim, interrupting Doctor Matthews. Gibbs looked over at him, surprised at McGee – he'd almost never heard him raise his voice, but he knew Tim was under a lot of pressure, so he let it go.

"Mr. Mc-, Agent McGee" the doctor said, correcting himself "I'm sorry to say that's not nearly the worst part.

Everyone in the room immediately felt their heart drop. They knew this was going to be extremely hard, so almost simultaneously, they all sat down.

Gibbs was the first to break the silence "Doc, what _is_ the worst part?"

"We've done all the tests we can think of, but cannot identify the specific type of poison that was administered. Honestly, I don't think it's been 'discovered' yet. We have, however, found that," he paused and looked to McGee "some of the chemicals that we have identified in the poison, that if they are mixed together, that in" the doctor stopped, and checked his chart once more "93% of the cases, it's proven fatal."

* * *

_A/N: Left you guys on another cliffy! Okay! Be sure and review! They mean the world to me! Thanks so much! ~Lynn D._


	5. Getting Out

_A/N: Hey everyone! Well, I did it! I finished it before the weekend is up! Next chapter should be up same time next week! Enjoy! ~Lynn D._

* * *

"Woah." Tony said, trying to take in what the doctor had just said.

Gibbs was sitting down next to McGee on the couch when the young agent abruptly stood up, ran out of the room and down the hall; Gibbs was pretty sure that was where he was going to lose his dinner.

Once McGee had left, Doctor Matthews straightened up after he had finishing re-checking all of Ziva's stats, then cleared his throat, "I'll check back with Miss David in a few hours, I have other patients to check up on."

Gibbs stood up once the doctor had exited, "Tony?" he asked the agent that was intently gazing out of the window, it still being very dark outside.

"Yea Boss?"

"Listen to me, very carefully" Tony perked up and turned to face Gibbs more directly, "Ziva and Abby don't just _get_ poisoned, something very, very strange is going on here, and honestly, I'm concerned. This is not good."

Tony's gaze drifted over to Ziva who was beginning to come out of her unconsciousness. Tony began to go over to her, but Gibbs stopped him "Tony, wait – come here, I need to talk to—"

"Boss! She's waking up!"

"—you…It'll take her awhile to come out of it, let me talk first."

"Okay…I know what you mean, Boss, but what are we going to do about it? I don't know anyone who would want to hurt them, do you?"

Gibbs shook his head as a peakid McGee walked back into the dark room. Gibbs motioned to McGee and Tony to sit down on the couch and he ran a hand through his hair, then sighed, "Right now, we aren't sure what's going on, but I don't want to take any chances, especially with my girls," looking at McGee knowingly, he continued, "this is too bizarre to be an 'accident'," he stopped and rubbed his face "we need to move them, they cannot stay here where they are vulnerable if there is a threat."

McGee and Tony looked up and McGee coughed as he stood up, "Boss, do you want me to get a nurse to check them out?"

Tony shook his head "But wait a minute, have we forgotten something?! They cou—no, ARE dying! Who is going to be taking care of them?"

"Tony!" McGee shouted "Is that seriously what you are worried about? '_Who is going to take care of them'?_ We need to be worrying about if they are even going to make it to tomorrow!"

Gibbs sighed, "We've always got Ducky, but we can't let _anyone_ know where we are going, much less that we're leaving."

McGee stood, with a look of shock, "Whoa Boss! Do you mean we're going to actually have to sneak Ziva and Abby out of this hospital without anyone seeing them?"

Tony nearly choked on his coffee, "What? Am I the only one that is remembering that Ziva is still partially unconscious and Abby is probably still sleeping like a rock," and with his famous sarcasm he added, "Oh yea! And they are sweating like crazy!"

"Tony!" Gibbs shouted, sick of Tony's ranting "I think YOU'VE forgotten about what is at stake here!" he continued, trying to get his Senior agent's head back on straight, "If we keep them here and there is someone after them, then they are dead, if we take them with us, they'll have a chance."

Tony looked to the floor, embarrassed for the second time that night, "But what if there isn't someone after them and this is some bizarre mistake?"

"Tony, do you really think that is the case?"

"No, but 'what if' though?"

"That's just a chance we're going to have to take."

After listening to everything very intently, McGee spoke up, "I'm with Gibbs; Tony, are you in?"

Tony smiled "Wouldn't miss it! Reminds me of—"

"Tony! Right now is NOT the time!"

"Sorry Boss!" Tony thought "_Oh Ziva, please be my strong ninja and get through this."_ He sighed and looked at McGee then Gibbs, "Alright guys, what's the plan?"

Gibbs smirked, "Tony? You ready to put your charm to good use?" Tony blushed, and McGee thought it was the first time he'd ever seen that, "What do you mean Boss?"

* * *

Tony walked up behind Liz in the dark, empty waiting room "Excuse me, Nurse Liz," he said, using the same voice as he did when he had the plague.

"Hm—oh! Special Agent DiNozzo!"

Tony flashed his famous grin, "Actually, it's VERY Special Agent"

Liz giggled, "I'll remember that!" she said with a wink as she started to walk over to the patient halls.

"Hey! Nurse Liz?"

"Yes, Very Special Agent DiNozzo?" Liz asked with a hint of flirtatiousness in her voice.

"Do you have an update?" A blank expression crossed her face, so Tony jumped in to help her out, "Miss Scuito and Miss David"

"OH!...Right! I'm really sorry! I'm learning the ropes around here and everything…I'm in my last year of grad school, so my mind is a little muddled."

"Yea, I know what you mean!" Both of them forgetting about the 'updates'.

"Hey, I've got nothing else to do, why don't I tell you about what I went through in school; it'll be good for a good laugh!" he said as he motioned towards the dark, vacant waiting room in the far corner.

Liz smiled, "Well, it's my break…I'd love that!"

Tony chuckled as they sat down, "Well, it all started when I got accepted into Ohio State…"

* * *

**-Meanwhile-**

"Alright McGee," said Gibbs as he peeked through the door on the back wall of the waiting room. Looking to his left, he saw DiNozzo and the nurse talking _"I've gotta hand it to that kid."_ Then about 100 yards in front of him, were the sliding doors that led to the parking lot. "The coast his clear," he sighed as he closed the door.

He looked over at McGee who had Abby in a wheelchair which was positing towards the door, almost as if he was ready to rocket towards the parking lot. His knuckles were white holding the wheelchair's handles.

"McGee! Calm down! Everything is going to be fine."

"Fine for getting the girls out or this whole ordeal?"

"Tim! Get your head on straight, you MUST focus!"

"Sorry Boss, I'm ready."

Gibbs poked his head back out of the door, making sure no one else had come by, "Ready?"

"I think so."

With that, Gibbs quietly re-opened the door and McGee quickly walked across the smooth, flat floor. When he was half-way to the door, Abby began to wake up "Oh Abby," McGee whispered as he began to run "Sssh! Would ya?"

A few seconds later, he reached the sliding doors, he stood a few feet away from them and looked pleading over at Tony, knowing the doors would alert Liz to look over who was still talking up a storm.

The senior agent looked up, when he figured out what was going on, he nodded to McGee and sneezed very loudly as McGee ran through the doors.

"Oh My! God bless you, Tony!"

He snickered, "Thanks, I'm fine! Now, where were we?" he asked as he saw McGee running through the parking lot.

* * *

The shrill of Gibbs' cellphone brought him out of his deep thoughts as he sat on the side of Ziva's bed. "Yea. Gibbs."

"Boss, I've got Abs in the car, and the lobby is clear; are you sure you don't need any help with getting Ziva out?" McGee could almost feel his Bosses' glare through the phone

"Yea, McGee, I think I can handle it, be out in a few." He said before flipping the phone shut. Ziva was still trying to re-gain consciousness; so Gibbs had put a cool cloth on her forehead while waiting for McGee's okay.

"Ziver?" The ex-Mossad agent just whimpered and slowly turned over to her other side. "You ready? We're gonna get out of here."

He smiled, lightening the mood the best he could. He went over to the table next to the couch, grabbed his keys, badge, and wallet then went back over to Ziva's bedside.

Gibbs bent over and put his strong arms underneath Ziva's back and legs then picked her up. Once she was positioned comfortably in his arms, he gently pulled her head to rest on his chest, because she still wasn't able to control it. A frown crossed his face as he realized she was still way too light from being in Somalia.

* * *

"Do you want to listen to any music Abby? I've got all of your favorites…Including 'Brain Matter'" he said, thinking back to their time on the 'Chimera'.

He sighed as he settled back against the backseat next to Abby who was still sweating. He continued talking to her, about his week in the field and his next book.

A few moments later, Abby was fully awake from listening to the sound of Tim's voice.

"Hey," she said weakly as she shot him a sweet smile, then a look of confusing crossed her face, "what happened?"

"Oh," McGee said looking around at the car, "we had to get outta there," he smirked, "it was too stuffy!"

Not really registering his answer, she snuggled closer to McGee to rest her head on his chest. Feeling a little better knowing Abby was still conscious, he was able to lean his head back and relax.

* * *

**-15 Minutes Later-**

"McGee!" Gibbs yelled as he was still holding Ziva.

"Oh! Boss!" he said as he hurried and unlocked the door. He got out and opened the back door so Gibbs could put Ziva in next to Abby. "How'd you get out so quickly?"

"McGee, after 20 years in the business, ya learn how to slip behind the curtain."

"Yes Boss," he said solemnly, still mystified. Gibbs slid Ziva in the back very carefully.

"McGee, stay back here with them."

"Sure! Um…Boss? Where are we going?" he asked as he began to put his seat-belt on.

"Tim, think you are forgetting someone!"

"Oh! Tony!"

Gibbs nodded his head back to the hospital.

"On it!" McGee ran out of the car and through those infamous sliding doors.

"There you are, Tony! We're going to out for a midnight snack! You coming?"

Tony stood up smiling, glad to finally be able to leave, "It was great talking with you, Liz! Good luck with that test next week!" he called over his shoulder as he started to walk towards Tim.

Once they got outside Tony asked the crucial question "How'd things go?"

McGee smiled "Perfectly!"

Tony laughed when they reached the car, "Now this is how I thought I'd feel every day when I signed up to be a cop!"

"Hey Boss!" He smiled as he slid into the passenger seat. With seriousness creeping back into his voice, he cleared his voice, "Where are we going to take them?"

"Abby's place."

Tony looked to the backseat at McGee then back at Gibbs, "Uh, Boss? I thought we'd be going to your place…"

"Can't risk anyone knowing where we are…all of the other places will be easy to find since we are agents" Gibbs explained to Tony "We may have to use Ducky's place too, I'm not sure…"

_"Whoa…Never heard him question himself before…"_ Tony realized that he may have to step up in case Gibbs crumbled under the pressure of the idea that Ziva and Abby might not be with them much longer…

* * *

_A/N: I've had SO many wonderful reviews for Chapter 4! Thank you all for making me smile with them! ~Lynn D._


	6. A Talk

_A/N: This was a very fun chapter for me to write, I hope you enjoy it! Be sure to review! ~Lynn D._

* * *

_Sheer terror was in Ziva's eyes as the whip came down on her back for the hundredth time that day "Please! Please Stop!" her heart cried out but she would never say it aloud, she was too strong for that, she thought._

_Saleem's 'informant' sensed her terror and sneered "Sweetheart, I'll stop whenever you want me to, just tell me what's in that file and I'll put you out of your misery once and for all!" _

_"You wish!" she yelled._

_Just seconds later the whip came back down on her already tattered back "Oh Lord, please save me!"_

* * *

Tony was awakened by Ziva's screaming "Zi?! Wake up! Come on ninja!" he cried desperately, hating to see her in pain.

"Tony! What's the matter?" yelled McGee as he ran down the hall from Abby's room.

"Ziva—she's having a nightmare, she just might re-gain consciousness this time" he hoped "Come on Ziva!"

"Huh!" she gasped as she abruptly sat up.

"Oh thank goodness Ziva! We were worried sick that you wouldn't come back to us!"

"Wha—What happened?" she asked while she was still gasping for air

"You've been out of it for 3 days, Zi." A confused look crossed her face as she laid back down.

"Ziva?" McGee asked "How are you feeling?"

"Terrible" she moaned "do you know what happened?"

McGee and Tony looked at each other "Ah—" "Uh—"

"Come on you two, I know you know what's wrong with me by the looks in your eyes. Are you goi—" she gasped "—ing to tell me?"

"Zi, take a breath, calm down."

Gibbs came into Ziva's room "Well!" he smiled "Glad to see that you are awake!"

She ignored him "What happened to me, Gibbs?"

"Ziver," he sighed "someone has poisoned you and Abby." he said bluntly.

A confused and shocked expression came over her "Abby? Why Abby? I can under—understand me" she gasped "bu—but why Abby?" she gasped again as her eyelids began to grow heavy.

"We're going to figure that out" assured Gibbs "now go back to sleep."

Just seconds later, she dropped off to sleep again.

"Tony, McGee" Gibbs whispered as he nodded towards the door "Come on."

They filed out of the room quietly, then headed into the living room which was combined with the kitchen. McGee and Tony sat down on the vintage couch in front of the bay window while Gibbs sat down on one of the bar stools in the kitchen.

A few minutes later of pure silence, Gibbs stood up and walked over to the guys "I re-checked Abby and Ziva's temperatures; they are both still very, very high. I need to go out and buy some ice."

McGee looked up from the couch "Ice? What are you going to do with it?"

"Pack 'em in it; hopefully it'll bring their fevers down." With a nod from Tony, he grabbed his keys from the table and left.

Awhile later, McGee moved over to the dark red wing backed chair which was caddy-cornered to the couch and Tony stretched out on the black couch. Tony had never been to Abby's apartment before, he would've thought it to be all black, but all of the walls were painted a dark red with black trim.

Yes, it was eccentrically designed to fit her personality, but not demonic. There were a lot of cross and vintage items around, too. It was definitely Abby, he decided. The kitchen and living room was combined, then a hallway leading off the right side leading to two bedrooms and a bathroom.

Tony brushed a hand through his hair and broke the silence "McGee? Are you still awake?"

"How do you think I could sleep? I'm too worried to sleep. Tony? What do you think is going to happen?"

"I don't know Probie, I just don't know."

"What would we do if they actually died? I mean, that is a possibility."

Tony lifted his head off the couch arm and sat up "McGee?! How can you ask something like that?!"

"Dang it Tony! What am I supposed to be thinking?"

"Okay Probie, I get it. Now, I know why we are all worried for the girls, but you've hardly mentioned Ziva at all, do you want to tell me why that is; besides you getting a tattoo on your butt for Abby?"

A faint smile crossed McGee's lips "That was the most painful thing I ever went through, but the whole time I was thinking of Abby's beautiful green eyes—"

"Okay, McLoverboy! Little too much information!"

McGee cleared his voice, cheering up a little bit, "What about you with Ziva? I mean, don't deny you weren't the first one to help Ziva."

"McGoo—she's my partner! I'm just worried about her."

"Uh huh, sure"

"Oh come on! Can't a guy worry about his partner without getting grief?"

Tim shrugged his shoulders and snickered "I guess so."

Tony smiled and stood up to walk over to the kitchen "Want anything?" he asked as he looked through the fridge.

"I'd better stick to saltines for now" he said, thinking back to a few days ago. Seeing Tony looking through various cabinets he smiled "She keeps them in the cabinet to the right of the fridge."

Tony took McGee's direction and found them with no problem, then grabbed a himself a beer "Here ya go" he said handing McGee the box "Wait a minute…How'd you—never-mind"

Tim grinned "Before I became an agent, Abby had me over a few times overnight instead of me having to go to a hotel."

"Oh! So that rumor going around that you and Abby…you know…was true?!"

A look of terror swept across McGee's face, "That got out? You've gotta be kidding me!"

Tony shrugged with a smile. Then Tim tried to explain, "No! I mean, she insisted that I sleep in her room and she take the couch, she just recently renovated her spare room into a guest room."

"Oh, well then what did she mean by 'more than just slept'?"

McGee smiled from reminiscing "Sure, we ended up sharing the coffin; but we just snuggled," That brought an unbelieving look from Tony "Really! We got to know each other that night—"

Tony cocked his head to the side "That came out wrong! I mean, we talked all night, about our families, our past, and our goals. Tony, it was one of the best nights I've had. We had a connection that night, I don't want to lose that."

"Whoa" Tony said "that's pretty deep, but I think I get you now."

"Thanks DiNozzo. Now, how about you and Ziva? I just poured my heart out to you, now it's your turn!"

The senior agent rubbed his face then smiled "Ah, alright. I guess besides her being my partner, she is also a good friend. I mean, I've know her—we've all know her for almost 8 years now. After working with and being with the same person all day, day after day you care for them in a way you've never cared for someone before. People gain a special kind of chemistry that can't be found any other way."

"Didn't know you were so eloquent Tony!" laughed McGee.

"Hey! You asked, I told"

"Okay, Okay! Keep going!"

"Well," he continued, "with Kate, we had a great partnership. We laughed and joked together, then she was killed and—and I didn't know what to do." Tony smiled "But then, then this Israeli/Mossad agent showed up, she has changed my life in many ways, even saved it a few times!"

"Well look who is going deep on me!" McGee laughed.

"You asked _I_ told!" Tony said with a grin.

Their thoughts were interrupted by Gibbs coming through the door with a bag of ice in each hand "DiNozzo, McGee! There are more bags in the car."

They both got up and ran out the door as Gibbs set the bags of ice down on the floor then headed back out the door to bring the rest of the ice upstairs.

* * *

"GIBBS! HELP ME!" yelled Abby "GIBBS! GIBBS!"

"Abby?! What's the matter? I'm here!" comforted Gibbs as he ran into her room.

"I can't move! Please help me!" Abby cried

"Abs, it's okay, it's just ice!"

She calmed down and looked over, realizing she was shivering "Oh…will you get it off of me now?" she asked, her teeth chattering.

Gibbs chuckled, "Sorry Abs, your fever is still too high, go back to sleep , then you won't think about it, okay?"

"Gibbs? Can I please have a headache pill? It feels like someone is hammering it in." She whimpered as she held her head, trying to relieve some of the pressure.

"Yea Abs, I'll be right back." He returned shortly with the capsules.

"Thanks Gibbs" she smiled as she swallowed.

"Alright, try to get some rest!"

"Gibbs?" she asked with great caution "How's Ziva?"

He sighed as he sat down on the edge of the bed "Ziva is hanging in there, she's not as good as you, but her fever has gone down a little bit with the ice, so that's a very good sign," he said with a soft smile "Now, go to sleep okay?"

"Okay." Abby said as she snuggled underneath the covers.


	7. Revelation

The rustling of papers echoed through the empty bullpen. Gibbs was going through files of old cases trying to find any leads of who would want to see the girls dead. He didn't know why anyone would want to hurt them, everyone loved Abby and Ziva had grown so close to everyone in the past 7 years, she was now one of the family.

"Oh my Jethro!" exclaimed Ducky as he walked in from the elevator "have you been here all night?"

"Yea Duck" Gibbs sighed as he closed his current file and sat down "what time is it?" he asked sleepily.

The older man checked his watch "5:15"

Gibbs stood up to grab his coat, gun, and badge "Time to relieve McGee and DiNozzo."

"Jethro!" he called as Gibbs pushed the elevator button "You must get some rest!"

"Duck, I don't have time right now. Will you come over sometime today and check on them? It's been 4 days now and they aren't improving."

"Oh my, well" he said thoughtfully "Why don't I just come with you now?"

"That'd be fine" he said as they got into the elevator together.

* * *

"Tony? Can you grab me a cool cloth?" McGee asked as he wiped his own brow from taking care of her for so long "Abby is still pretty warm."

The special agent ran into the kitchen and returned promptly "Here you go"

"Thanks" he replied as he placed it gently on the still asleep scientist. "How's she doing?"

"Better, thank goodness" McGee looked down and asked worriedly "How about Ziva?"

Tony brushed a hand across his face "As good as could be expected I guess. She's still worse than Abby."

"I was hoping she'd be better by the time I got back" commented Gibbs as he walked into her room with Ducky.

"I suppose I should begin with Ziva" suggested the medical examiner

"'cross the hall, Duck" helped Gibbs

"Well, let's see what we've go here" smiled Ducky, trying to be as positive as possible, knowing this was hard for everyone. Sitting down on the side of her bed, he pulled his stethoscope out of his old fashioned doctor's bag.

Tony walked in and smirked as Ducky began to check Ziva's pulse "Little cliché there Ducky?"

"Oh! This bag has been passed down from 6 generations!" he said enthusiastically "It's told to of been used in the civil war."

Tony moved over to the other side of the bed and sat down "Yea, that's real cool Ducky" he said slightly sarcastically "How's Ziva?" he asked impatiently

"Well, I'm not going to know for sure until Ab—Oh Dear, I suppose I'll have to send Norfolk some blood samples."

"Can't you give me anything?"

Ducky stood up "Her pulse is very fast and she still has a very high fever" looking to Gibbs "But Jethro was right to pack them in ice, it most definitely saved their lives."

With that, Gibbs sat down.

'_This is intense' _Tony decided.

Breaking DiNozzo from his thoughts, McGee came in "Ducky? Were you going to check on Abby?" he asked worriedly.

"Yes, of course Timothy!" Ducky said with a warm, sympathetic smile as he and Tony stood up. Looking to Gibbs and Tony, he spoke "Give her some pain killers, when she wakes up she's going to be in" pausing to choose his words wisely, knowing any way he said this it'd be hard to hear "she's going to be in a lot of pain, after you give them, be sure to be there and comfort her, she's going to need it."

After distributing instructions, he walked back across the hall to Abby's room "Oh Abigail, it hurts me to see you like this" the older man said as he and McGee sat down on the bed

"Hey Ducky" said Abby weakly as she was awoken by his voice

"Abs!" McGee exclaimed excitedly "How are you feeling? I was so worried about you! Are you o—"

"McGee! We'll get to that!" Gibbs said, understanding Tim's situation "Just settle down and let Duck do his exam"

McGee looked over at Abby longingly then began to get up off the bed to stand next to Gibbs

"Timmy?" Abby asked timidly after hearing all of this "Will you please stay here with me?"

McGee stopped in his tracks and looked to Gibbs who nodded knowingly "Okay" he said sweetly as he sat back down, "Do you want me to hold your hand?"

She smiled brightly "I'd like that."

* * *

"McGoo! Come 'ere!" yelled Tony from the kitchen

"Coming!" he yelled back then looked down at Abby "Go back to sleep, Abs" he comforted as she'd been awoken by Tony

"What?" he asked as he walked into the kitchen

"Gibbs just called from the office, he said for you to go home, freshen up, and get some rest" he said, trying to remember anything else his boss may of added "Oh yea, he also said 'no arguing'"

McGee looked disappointed, but knew better than to argue with his boss "Well, let's see, it's 5 now…Guess I'll go get some rest and be back around 7?" McGee said, looking at Tony to approve the time "How does that sound?"

Tony sighed and looked to the hall leading towards the girls' rooms "That'll be fine, now get out of here" he smiled, trying to lighten the mood as he pushed McGee towards the door "get some rest McBaggyEyes"

Tim smiled then tried to hide a yawn as he began to grab his coat

"Come on! You're already falling asleep on me! Get outta here!"

"Okay, Okay Tony, goodnight!"

* * *

**-30 Minutes Later-**

"TONY!" came the shrill scream from Ziva's room that awakened the senior agent from a deep sleep.

He threw his blankets off, leapt up off the couch and ran into the crying agent's room. "Zi? What's the matter?" he asked desperately as he looked down on the sweating woman who was looking up at him with pleading eyes

"I can hardly—hardly breathe" she gasped.

Tony ran closer to her side, propped her up and put his arm around her back as he sat down next to her. "Take at easy, Zi, breathe. Match my breaths, okay?"

Ziva slowed her breathing the best she could

"That's my girl" he said soothingly. A few minutes later he began to rub her back "How are you feeling?"

"That doesn't matter, how's Abby?" she asked as she snuggled closer up against Tony's chest

"Abs is doing great!" he encouraged. Relief flooded her face which quickly turned into a blank expression of fear.

Tony looked down as he felt his partner's pulse rapidly increase. Her face had turned cherry red as her sweating and breathing became increasingly laborious.

Worried, Tony panicked knowing there was no one else there that could help him. "Hey! Ziva!" he almost shouted "hang in there for me!" he rushed to his cellphone that he'd left on the coffee table and called Ducky to come ASAP, grabbed some water, then rushed back to his partner.

When he was almost back to her room, a wave in movement in Abby's room caught his eye. He quickly changed his direction as he pulled his gun. With just brief hesitation, he ran into her room, but was almost immediately stopped in his tracks, the sight before his eyes warmed his heart.

Ziva had somehow gathered enough strength to get to Abby's beside and was adjusting a fresh cool cloth on the girl's head. The ex-Mossad agent looked to Tony with heartbroken eyes "She isn't okay Tony!" she yelled with all the strength she could gather, still trying to catch her breath, she opened her mouth to continue, but began to fall over in the process.

He rushed to her side to catch her and just made it before she hit the floor, which most likely would've killed her in the state she was in. He pulled her up into his arms as she fell almost completely limp into his chest. Tony carried her back into her room as she tried to protest, but he had to practice some tough love and keep walking.

He gently settled her back into bed and began to walk out to go check on Abby, knowing he'd neglected her a little bit, since Ziva was the one in the most danger, but he was stopped by a hushed tone from Ziva "Don't leave me Tony, please don't leave" she pleaded.

Before he turned around to face her, he closed his eyes and tried his best to compose himself, he need to stay strong for her. He ran a hand through his hair and put on his famous smile, then turned to her. "Hey Zi, I'd never, EVER leave you, do you understand that?" he softened his voice as he went to sit on the side of her bed "you're not only my partner, but my friend. There is not a force strong enough that could ever pull me away from you! You got that?"

A single tear was running down her face and she replied hesitantly "Tony" she paused and moved her hand up to his face then to the back of his neck as she gently pulled him down and she kissed him softly on the cheek. Surprise filled his eyes as she continued "I am sorry."

"Why are you sorry?"

"I left you"

A questioning look brushed Tony's face as he realized what she was saying. "You had to leave Zi, you would've never figured out how much we all really cared for you." He truly smiled as he continued "rescuing you from Somalia was the best thing I have ever done."

The honesty in his voice hit Ziva like a brick wall and she burst into tears "I do not deserve that…I just don't"

"You truly are a crazy ninja! You just don't get it, I care for you, you've gotta accept that. I didn't leave you in Somalia, I came back for you. That's why you've gotta stay strong because if you leave this time, you won't come back."

"Tony, will you please stay here with me for the rest of the night? I don't think I can sleep alone tonight." He smiled and snuggled underneath the covers with her and slipped his arms around her waist to make her feel comforted.

When he was about asleep, the best words he'd ever heard came through the darkness "I won't leave you."


	8. Heartache

_A/N: Hey Guys! Thanks for hanging in there an extra day! I'm hoping this chapter lives up to your expectations! The next chapter is going to be tough for me to write, so patience would be highly appreciated! ~Lynn D._

* * *

Tony had been kicked out about 45 minutes ago once Gibbs had gotten back from taking Ducky back to NCIS and going back to his own place to clean up. Now that it was just him, he decided to spend the night in Abby's room even though she wasn't awake more than just a few minutes. He tried to take advantage of the girls' every waking moment.

His head dropped into his hands and took a deep breath "God," he whispered, "if you are really there, don't let my girls die. I don't think I can handle losing 2 more of my girls."

His prayer was interrupted by Abby stirring, "Abs?"

"Gibbs I-I don't feel so great."

Holding back his emotions, he brushed a hand over her cheek.

She turned over to face Gibbs, "Will you turn on 'Brain Matter' for me? My CD player is over in the corner." she hoped, pointing towards the player.

Smiling at the Abby he'd missed the past week, he said "Sure," and turned on her music

"Ah," she grinned "Thanks" Just a few moments later, she was out like a light.

He was glad that she was sleeping a lot, so his girls weren't in a lot of pain. Sitting back in his chair next to her bed, he listened to Abby's favorite band, the first time he'd heard it, he wanted to rip his eardrums out, but seeing Abby enjoy it so much, he began to as well.

There had been many times since she'd started work at NCIS that she had changed his way of thinking, or just make his day brighter. When they had discovered they both signed, it made his life so much more fun. It was the first time he'd really smiled in a long time. Even on the days of a stressful case, he would come down to see what she had found and she would always immediately cheer him up with her personality alone.

"Gibbs?" Abby asked, as she tried to sit up "Are you okay?" he lifted his head to return her soft smile.

Ignoring her question, he moved to her bed "Are you hungry? You really haven't eaten anything in 2" checking his watch, "almost 3 days." Abby let out a deep breath followed by a yawn "Abs, I know you are tired, but will you eat some broth?"

She scrunched up her nose and put a hand to her stomach "I really don't think" she whimpered "I could keep it down, Gibbs" he snuggled up to her as he put an arm around her.

He could feel her begin to cry as she laid down on his chest. A word didn't escape either of their lips for nearly an hour, for that time they just listened to each other's heartbeats. One taking comfort in it, the other making sure it was still beating. When Gibbs thought Abby was back asleep again, she snuggled even closer to his chest "Gibbs?"

"Hmm?"

"When is this going to be over? I'm ready to just die if need be."

He gazed at her with a look of shock and sadness "No Abby—don't even think like that, I've already gone through this more times than anyone should ever have to go through and I couldn't do anything about it, if I can do something about you two, I will. But I will NOT let you give up" he shouted, though still showing love through his piercing eyes that she'd always taking comfort it.

She closed her eyes and shook her head as a tear streamed down her face "I'm really" she hesitated, then continued "sorry, Gibbs. I just can't think straight, I'm always tired, and I'm always starving but have no appetite. How do you thin—" she stopped midsentence and her face turned pale white.

Gibbs almost did the same when he saw this, he turned to face her more clearly "Abs! Speak to me!" she began to shake uncontrollably. Gibbs rushed into action, he yanked the covers off of her then laid her back down on the bed. Her chest began to move rapidly, which scared Gibbs "Abs! Please!" he shouted "talk to me!"

Through her labored breathing she managed "Gib—Gibbs, Help Me!" Then pure silence pierced through the room, Abby had stopped breathing…

* * *

**1 Hour Earlier**

A yawn escaped McGee's lips and Tony's words echoed through his mind "_you've gotta get some sleep"_ he stopped typing and checked his watch, which surprised him, reading 2:42 a.m.

A few moments later, a smile crossed his face "I did it Abby!" he said as he stood up from his computer, forgetting the time, he grabbed his gun, badge, and keys then ran out the door.

He was glad it was so late because there wasn't much traffic, rushing into the NCIS parking lot, he ran into the building to his desk.

Tim hurried and started a background check then went over to the filing cabinets, but the file he was looking for was so old, it had been moved to the file garage. He let a sigh, and then went down to it. After 20 minutes of rifling through boxes full of files, he smiled "Gotcha".

* * *

Tony, like everyone else wasn't able to sleep, so he had grabbed a shower then started a James Bond marathon. He couldn't enjoy the movie as much as he wanted to though. Without Ziva by his side eating popcorn with him and sharing laughs, his apartment felt so empty.

The partners had multiple movie nights a week when they were having a stressful week and just wanted to relax.

His thoughts were cut short as his cell phone rang. He checked his watch and held back a yawn when he noticed it was 3:40a.m.

"Boss?" he asked "Wha—"

"Get over here NOW" he interrupted "What's wron—" Tony was cute off as his boss hung up. He grabbed his stuff and ran out the door, he knew this couldn't be good.

* * *

Gibbs hadn't cried since Shannon and Kelly had been killed, but he was making up for that while giving Abby CPR relentlessly. He couldn't lose her, she was far too important to him to give up. He'd been giving her CPR for 4 minutes and there was still no movement, he knew after 6 minutes without breathing, she would have severe brain damage and never be the same, after 6 ½, she would be dead.

He heard Tony coming through the door "DiNozzo!" he shouted, wiping tears off of his face, knowing it'd be all over the agency by morning and his reputation would be gone forever "hurry up!" Tony bolted into Abby's room, not liking the tone of his Boss' voice

"What is—" his voice dropped off as he saw what was going on and ran over to the other side of Abby's bed as Gibbs continued CPR, he figured now was not a good time to make a joke about Gibbs and Abby holding back their feelings for each other as Gibbs was giving her 'the kiss of life', his thoughts were dissolved as he heard a sharp gasp followed by "Gibbs" fill the room.

He jerked his head up and let out a deep breath as he saw Gibbs giving Abby some water then began to ask her vital questions like what her name was and where she worked, each of which she answered without hesitation.

Gibbs move back to his own chair and put his head in his hands. Tony was pretty sure he saw his Boss crying, but sure as hell wasn't going to ask him.

At that moment, McGee came running through the apartment shouting "I found him! I found him!"

He stopped in his tracks just as Tony when he saw what was going on, he rushed to Abby's bedside then looked to Tony, then to his Boss "Boss? What happened?! Abby? Tony?"

"McGee, Abby almost died" Gibbs answered bluntly.

McGee almost fell out of his seat when he heard this then put a hand to her face "Abs!" he began to ask a question, but just snuggled up next to the overwhelmed girl.

For a few minutes, the room was completely silent, then Gibbs sat up, composed once again then cocked his head to the side "McGee? What did you mean by 'I found him'?"

McGee smiled as he stood up, "I have some answers."

* * *

_A/N: Zoey (Chapter 7): Thank you so much for loving my story so much! I try and update every week over the weekends, but sometimes I'm not able to do that. Thank you for reviewing! _


	9. Bathtime

_A/N: Hey Guys! I put tons of work into this chapter, so I hope you enjoy it! As you can probably tell, things are beginning to wrap up; I have a few more chapters up my sleeve, but don't expect this to go on forever! Enjoy! ~Lynn D._

* * *

As McGee began to tell everyone of his discovery, Gibbs' cellphone rang.

Tim let out a sigh of impatience and went over to sit by Abby.

"Yea, Gibbs" A few moments later after listening, a wave of emotion crossed his face "Gotcha Duck" he said as he stood up with a faint tear in his eye. He looked to Abby as he nodded to Tony and McGee to follow him.

They headed into the kitchen and sat at the bar, even though Gibbs couldn't be persuaded to sit "That was Ducky, he has been pushing Norfolk for the girls' blood results and, well, he just got them" he paused "somehow, they—they are still being poisoned."

Without even thinking, McGee got up "What are we going to do?!"

"McGeek is right" Tony added "what _are_ we going to do? We don't even know how they were poisoned in the first place!"

A wave of excitement cut into the fear on McGee's face as he ran to the door to grab his coat and pulled out a single piece of paper and handed it to his boss.

A flash of recognition washed over Gibbs' face, then looked to Tony who was leaning over his shoulder "Let's get him."

As they were headed out the door, Gibbs called back to McGee "Take care of the girls and don't give them anything but water until we know what is causing this." A nod from Tim began the mission to find Abby and Ziva's assaulter.

* * *

**20 Minutes Later**

"Why do you think he held a grudge after all these years?" Tony wondered as they were in the car headed to NCIS.

"Right now, I'm not sure about much of this." admitted Gibbs as they reached the agency.

Once they were in the building, they began hurriedly looking through files. Just a few minutes later, they were interrupted by Vance coming from the elevator; both agents looked up, confused knowing it was still the middle of the night at 4:45a.m.

Gibbs took the initiative and ran up the stairs to his office, Vance shortly behind. Leaving Tony to finish McGee's background check and find a very particular address.

"Director," Gibbs asked as they reached his office "what are you doing here?"

"I work here"

"Leon!" Gibbs huffed as Vance sat down at his desk.

"I should be the one yelling at you! You've kept me out of the loop for too long now," he softened his voice "how is Miss David and Sciuto?"

Gibbs walked over to the couch him and Jenny used to share late night dinners on, and sat down "Somehow they are still being poisoned, so use your imagination. McGee got a lead so we're following up on it. Now, why are you here?"

"I was notified by security that McGee was here and accessing old files, it peaked my interest and was hoping I'd actually be told something! Do you have security on the place?"

"Nope, too much attention. McGee, DiNozzo, and I have it under control, security wise anyway."

The shrill of Gibbs' phone broke up their conversation, checking his caller ID, he hurriedly ran out of the office and down to Tony who was hanging up his cell phone and pulled out what he's found, "It's for sure now Boss, Brice did it. Now we just have to find out how and why."

Gibbs brushed a hand over his face then let out a deep breath "Let's go."

* * *

Ziva had been sleeping a lot the past few days, the guys had figured it was just her body conserving as much energy as it could to fight the poison that was somehow getting into her and Abby's bloodstream.

Tim was sitting at the bar with his laptop doing as much research as he could while the girls were asleep. All that could be heard throughout the apartment was rapid typing for about an hour, when McGee could hear Abby begin to wake up a little bit.

He knew this was a good sign, for it was the first time she'd woken up since almost dying.

He closed his laptop, then walked back to her room, peeking his head in the door, he smiled "Hey Abs! How are ya?" he asked trying to be as cheerful as he could.

"Terrible." she muttered.

Worried, he went to her side and put a hand to her forehead then placed a fresh, damp cloth on her head. "What is hurting?" knowing better than to ask what the matter was.

"Well, a lot, but—"

"But what, Abby? I'll do whatever I can to make you feel better."

"To be awful clear McGee, I want to feel clean. I've been sweating like a pig for a week."

Taken aback by her selflessness, he leaned over and kissed her cheek, for everything she could of asked for, she chose that. She amazed him every day! "Do you feel up to it?"

Perking up, she slowly sat up "Yes!" she said, showing some of her much loved personality again.

With that response, he just realized what he'd just agreed too "Um..How do you—I ah…"

She giggled, "Just go turn on the bath water, I can give myself one!"

Relief crossed his face as he let out a deep breath "Sounds good" he smiled. He ran in, turned on the water, and then came back to the room, "Which pj's do want to change into? Your pink skull and crossbones or your black roses?"

"You choose"

"I've always been partial to your pink ones." he smirked as he pulled them out of the nearby drawer.

"Timmy? Will you help me?" she asked as she was trying to get out of bed and was stuck mid-way.

"Abs! What are you doing? Please ask me ahead of time!"

She let out a sigh "I'm not really used to this whole 'poisoned' thing, I forgot for a moment there."

He moved over to her side and pulled her into his arms and carried her wedding style to the bathroom "Here you go" he smiled as he set her down on the edge of the tub "Do you want bubbles?"

"Of course I want bubbles!" she laughed.

By memory, he walked over to the cabinet next to the sink and pulled out her 'Moonlight Path' bubble bath and set it on the edge of the tub next to her. "Alright, your pj's are right here by the mat" he said as he pointed towards the floor next to the tub "and I'll be right around the corner in the kitchen so I'll be able to hear you if you need me"

"Timmy! I'll be fine, now leave me alone!" she reassured him.

"Okay, I'm gone!"

15 minutes later, he got up from working on his computer and walked over to the closed door "Doing okay?"

"I'm fine! I just wanna relax for a few more minutes."

"That's fine Abs, just making sure." he walked back to his laptop and decided to give up on his search for the rest of the night, wanting to give Abby some extra time, he headed into Ziva's room.

He quietly walked in and sat down on the side of her bed "Ziva?" he whispered "Are you awake?"

Her eyes fluttered open and she smiled at him and snickered, "Guess I am now."

McGee looked down, "I'm sorry."

"No," she assured "that is fine."

"How are you feeling today? You've slept almost a full day, we just want to make sure you're still with us!"

"I am still here." She smiled weakly "How is Abby?"

"Much better, but still weak," he admitted.

A splash coming from the bathroom alerted McGee to see what was going on "Abs?" he asked as he ran into the bathroom without even hesitating to knock "Are you okay?" he asked coming in with his head down.

"It's okay, Timmy, I'm decent!" Looking up, he was surprised to see she was already in her pajamas.

"That was fast!" he smiled.

"The water got cold and my bubbles popped…figured it was time to get out." she yawned

"Tired?"

"Yea, I think all the activity is taking it's toll on me."

"Alright, let's get you to sleep."

"Sounds nice," she smiled as she put her arms out to be carried.

McGee knew she probably didn't need to be carried, but he wasn't arguing.

* * *

Gibbs and Tony were sitting outside the house they'd been hunting all night, the sun was just beginning to rise above the horizon, so they were staking out the place to wait for some activity.

"Boss? What are we going to arrest him on?"

"Tony, if he runs when we apprehend him, and we'll know he has done something, or, we'll hold him endangering the welfare of an agent when he tries to attack you."

Tony turned his head towards his boss, shocked, "Um, what do you mean Boss?"


	10. Breakfast

"McGee?" Gibbs asked on the phone.

"Yea Boss?"

"Call Vance and have him get an agent to pick up the security tapes from Bethesda from over the past 2 weeks. Then have them bring them to you. We need to have something solid on this guy."

"On it Boss."

Gibbs flipped his phone shut, then looked over to Tony, "Alright, DiNozzo I want you to go and make me want to smack you on the back of the head."

A genuine smile washed over the agent's face "I'll make you proud Boss."

He jumped out of the car and up to the door of the solid brick house. Looking around the porch, he picked up a loose brick and threw it through the nearest window. Tony turned back and looked at Gibbs and winked.

Gibbs nodded his head, letting Tony do what he need to.

The younger agent turned back to the door and began to get down on the porch floor and rolled into a ball.

Gibbs took this action as his cue to quietly move in around to the back.

Tony could hear rapid movements inside of the house, then suddenly all he could fell was a sharp sting on the back of his head, then everything went dark.

As Tony lay there motionless, Brice jumped over him and ran to get into his pick-up truck that was parked in the driveway.

Gibbs noticed the man and very quietly came up behind him, then tapped him on the shoulder. As Brice jumped and turned around, the Special Agent blew a fist across his jaw. When the man fell to the ground, Gibbs turned him over, cuffed him, and put him in the sedan.

Once he was secured in the car, Gibbs ran back to his agent, then knelt down and patted the agent's cheek "Tony, come on Tony, wake up."

A few moments later, a groan escaped his lips "Guess I wasn't a very believable psych ward patient."

Gibbs cracked a smile "Well, he doesn't work with you!" he helped Tony get to his feet "It's time to get Brice into interrogation."

Tony rubbed the back of head "I don't think he is going to take very kindly to me for throwing a rock through his window."

They began to walk back towards the sedan "Well, he's not going to be pals with me either" Gibbs chuckled.

As they got to the car, Tony noticed what his boss was talking about and snickered, "Guess not."

**_-Back At Abby's Apartment: 6:45a.m.-_**

"Timmy?" Abby called from the kitchen "Do you want blueberries or chocolate chips in your pancakes?" she asked standing over the stove with a spatula in her hand.

McGee was in the bathroom washing his hands, then smiled as he yelled back "Blueberries please!" He dried his hands, then headed into the living room to check on Ziva who was in the middle of watching 'The Sound of Music'.

They'd all woken up around 5a.m. after going to sleep in the afternoon the day before.

As Tim reached the kitchen, a smile crossed his lips knowing that his girls were getting better so quickly.

He slid onto the bar across from the stove "Abs, now that you are feeling better and able to talk longer periods of time, I've gotta ask you this; Did you see anyone strange or eat anything different on the day you got sick?"

Abby took the pancakes off the stove then put them on a nearby plate and handed them to McGee. She turned back around and filled another plate with pancakes and took it in to Ziva. Tim heard Ziva thank Abby as she walked back into the kitchen.

McGee looked at Abby curiously and leaned forward in the bar stool as he took a bite of his pancakes, "Abby? Did you—"

She turned back to face McGee, "I heard you, Timmy. I've been trying to think of the answer every waking moment I've had," she sniffled "I can't think of anything and it's been nagging so much at me."

McGee put his face in his hands then got up from the stool and went over and pulled Abby in close for a hug, then whispered in her ear, "I'm always going be here for you. It's okay!"

Ziva walked in and a smile crossed her face, "I hate to break up this little love-fest, but I'd like some more pancakes!"

The two broke apart and a slight blush crossed each of their faces, then Abby took the plate out of Ziva's hands and went over to fill it up. "Here you go!"

Ziva went over to the bar and sat next to McGee's setting. "I could really get used to being able to walking around for more than a minute!"

Abby smiled and agreed, "For sure!"

Looking around, Tim smiled "Hey, how would you guys like to play a game?"

A huge smile crossed each of their faces, and almost unanimously the girls replied enthusiastically, "Yes!"

A few minutes later could find the trio sitting around the coffee table playing 'Sorry'. Laughter was echoing throughout the apartment and McGee could've sworn it was the best thing he'd heard all year.

In the middle of the game, Tim noticed Ziva was beginning to get a little pale, "Ziva, I think it's time for you to get some rest."

Any other time, she would've protested, but she _was_ exhausted. Standing up, she rubbed her eyes "McGee, be sure and wake me for dinner! With my appetite beginning to come back," she smiled "I don't want to miss a meal!"

Tim stretched out his back from sitting on the floor and smirked, "I'll be sure to!" Ziva walked back to her room, yawning.

As McGee and Abby heard her door close, the scientist turned to McGee with a smile "You wanna keep playing?"

Laughing, he kissed her on the cheek, "I'd love to!"

For the next half-hour, the couple worked on finishing the game, the whole living room was filled with laughter and smiles. A little while later, they called a truce before the rivalry tore apart their friendship.

"Timmy?" Abby asked after he'd finished putting the game back into the box.

"Hmm?" he wondered as he moved back onto the couch and put his arm around her.

"Do you think we'll be okay now?"

He let out a deep breath, "Yes, I do!"

Abby put her head down, "I'm still worried, especially about Ziva, she's doing so much better, but still—we're both still pretty tired and weak."

"Abs, something like this can't just 'go away', whatever was in your system is thankfully working its way out."

"McGee? How were we able to eat something this morning? We weren't allowed to yesterday."

"Well, I just went out and bought the mix this morning before you woke up, and Gibbs called me and said that they have a suspect in custody and think it's safe."

A sigh of relief escaped from Abby as she laid her head against McGee's shoulder.

Moments later, he could hear her breathing even out. Smiling, he stood and carefully picked her up and carried her back to her bedroom.

Once he had Abby tucked in, he started in on the newly in security tapes. He began to pray, _"Dear Lord, please help me find something!"_

**-Interrogation Observation Room-**

Gibbs and Tony were watching through the glass as Brice paced back and forth for over an hour.

After awhile, Gibbs cleared his throat "Alright DiNozzo, I've given you enough time; Did you see Ziva eating anything different than usual or any strangers around the Navy Yard?"

Tony thought for a moment, then sighed, "No Boss, The only thing I was looking at were the new hot interns."

"Well, Tony," Gibbs lightened his tone "I can't say that I blame you for that. You weren't—we all weren't expecting this."

For a few moments, the two agents turned back to the glass. Tony really studied Brice's features, 'medium-build, brown haired, and an average weight', "Boss?"

"Hmm? Gibbs turned to Tony.

"I know we have the security tapes, but what other evidence do we have against him?"

Gibbs headed out the door and nodded his head towards Tony and he quickly ran after his boss into the interrogation room.


	11. The Interrogation

_A/N: This was a pretty interesting chapter for me to write, but I think I got through it pretty well! I hope you enjoy it! Be sure to review! ~Lynn D._

* * *

After staring at Brice for over an hour, Tony was amazed for how long his boss could keep a straight face and practice so much patience. Even sitting in the corner, Tony was getting ancy; he was so ready to bust this guy for what he did to his co-workers, but most importantly, his friends.

Breaking DiNozzo from his thoughts, Gibbs finally began the interrogation. "Where were you on March 14th at 10p.m.?"

Brice shot an angry look at Gibbs and put a stupid grin on his face, "sleeping."

Gibbs placed pictures of Abby and Ziva in front of him and a brief expression of fear washed over his face then quickly composed himself, "so what?"

Gibbs cocked his head to the side and smiled sarcastically, "Do you recognize these women?"

Without even hesitating he replied, almost getting annoyed, "No."

"So you don't remember," pointing to Ziva's picture "her?"

Brice rolled his eyes "yea, fine –it's the chic who arrested me and wasted 7 years of my life."

"It sounds like your memory is coming back pretty quick. Now, do you want to tell me why we have you on security tapes at the Navy Yard and in Bethesda Hospital?"

Brice put his head down and sighed as he leaned back "Suppose I'm sunk, huh?"

Tony nodded then looked over at Gibbs before turning back to Brice, "What are you exactly admitting to?"

He shrugged, "Following them" pointing to the pictures.

"Do you want to tell me why you were following them?"

"Not especially."

Gibbs abruptly stood up and slammed his hand on the table then gruffly yelled "Why were you on the Navy Yard?"

Taken aback by this sudden change of behavior, he put his head in his hands "Fine, I'll tell you what you want."

* * *

While Abby and Ziva were sleeping, McGee was patiently trying to find Brice on the hospital security tapes. He'd just gotten word from Tony to check the Navy Yard footage as well, that'd be easier for him since he'd updated their new system and he knew it very well.

Now came the hard part where he just had to wait. McGee knew he had plenty of time, the girls wouldn't be getting up for another 10 hours or so.

He entered in Brice's height and weight into the program's system then decided to go take a quick nap.

* * *

Gibbs and Tony both took their seats at the table and Gibbs cleared his throat, "start at the beginning."

Brice leaned forward and let out a deep breath, "Being in prison for 7 years I just wanted to do something."

Tony interrupted, "Do you want to define 'something'?"

"Being cooped up in jail for so long, you just want to do something exciting, but I'm sure you two have no idea what that is like."

Both Tony and Gibbs brushed off the ploy to change the subject.

Gibbs decided it was time to move things along, "When did you begin planning for this 'something'?"

"I really didn't have a starting period; when you are in jail, you have revenge on your mind 24/7, it was really the only thing _to_ think about. I mean, I have no family to go back to, so I had nothing else on mind."

Tony wrinkled his brow, "Okay…so you kind of answered that." Gibbs looked over at his agent and gave him a look, but Tony continued despite his Boss, "I can understand why you wouldn't like Ziva, but why Abby?"

Brice bit his lip and looked down, "About 6 months before I attacked James, my fiancé broke our engagement, I suppose…I don't know."

Gibbs stood up and went out of the room. Tony was confused, but continued to try and get a suitable answer out of Brice.

A few minutes later, Gibbs arrived with the one and only Duck-Man. Gibbs waved for Tony to go observe, then him and Ducky went on with their questioning.

* * *

After taking his nap, McGee went over and checked if he had any results on his man yet, he was, however a bit disappointed when he hadn't gotten a 'ding' yet. Sitting back down, he continued to go through the footage for another 2 hours.

Taking a quick break, he went and checked on the girls. Peeking into Ziva's room, he smiled as he saw that she was resting peacefully. As he was heading into Abby's room, he heard her moving around in the bathroom, cautiously he knocked on the door, "Abby? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine! I'll be out in a sec."

He nodded his head and moved into Abby's room and took the sheets off her bed, then walked over to her dresser and took the clean set off the top.

As he was walking back to her bed, Abby came into the room dressed in her usual Goth clothing, fully adorned in her dog collar and cuffs, however she'd left off her make-up and McGee almost dropped the sheets he was carrying.

McGee looked at her curiously, "Going somewhere?"

She looked at him excitedly, "I have an idea, but I need to go to my lab to test it, will you take me?!"

"Abby," he said softly, "you still aren't well enough to go anywhere."

"Timmy," she smiled, "I feel SO much better and I really need to do this." She sighed, "For me and Ziva."

McGee smiled at her tenacity and spunk, "Alright, lemme tell Ziva where we'll be and I'll be ready."

She was so excited she almost jumped, but was careful to not get _too_ excited, then she headed to the front door and put on her coat.

McGee quietly walked into the agent's room, "Hey Ziva, Abby thinks she has a lead, we'll be back home before dinner," he winked, "call if you need anything, okay?"

She turned over and snuggled underneath the covers, "umhmm," she replied then fell back to sleep.

He smirked then took Abby where she wanted to go.

* * *

After thinking of what he should say, since he was warned by Gibbs that he'd been talking so far and not to mess it up, Ducky carefully began to try to get some answers from Brice from a doctor's perspective.

He cleared his throat and began, "It seems to me that you are mad at all women for what your fia—ex-fiancé did to you." As Ducky was talking, he saw the hurt and anger begin to form in Brice's eyes. "However," he continued, "you still knew what you were planning to do was wrong and unfortunately sometimes our feelings just take over. Do you feel that I'm right?"

Brice put his head down and sighed, then responded, "I'm afraid so; my anger took over—it was like these past two weeks have been one big fog." Ducky nodded his head in understanding, then with a look from Gibbs, he left and a few moments later, Tony came in and filled the empty chair.

* * *

While Abby was setting up her lab and turning on her music along with her beloved mass-spectrometer, McGee set up his laptop to work on the surveillance tapes right next to her. She went over to her old computer and grabbed her purse and then headed back to her workstation where McGee was setting up.

She reached over and slipped on a pair of gloves as she reached into her purse and pulled out the bottle of headache pulls.

Tim looked over at Abby almost in shock, "Abs?"

Abby put her head down and sighed, "McGee, I believe these are what have been continuing to poison Ziva and I. I'll find out in about 2 hours if this really is the culprit—"

"And hopefully by then," McGee cut in, "we'll have our offender." He stood up from working on the footage a few minutes later and leaned over Abby's shoulder, "you need to go get some rest, I've got to go see what is going on in interrogation, alright?"

"Sounds good Timmy!"

He looked at her with some doubt, "Promise?"

"Promise!"

McGee headed upstairs to the interrogation observation room where he became enveloped in the questioning.

* * *

"About a week after I was released, I began putting the final touches on my plans, as well as collecting the…er, supplies I needed," Brice confessed.

"What kind of 'supplies' are we talking about?" Gibbs asked as Tony turned away from Brice and muffled a yawn.

They'd been in interrogation for 3 hours now and with his lack of sleep, he was beginning to become very tired.

"Well, I made up a layout of Bethesda and the Navy Yard, then mapped out Sciuto and David's workplaces. I also set up some security cameras around those places. I had already," he cleared his throat, "acquired the thing I needed for the, er…"

Tony butted in and nearly shouted, "For the poisoning?!"

Gibbs made Tony sit down but then put in his own thoughts, "You were man enough to poison them, but not enough to say you did it? Tells me a lot. Let's move on, where'd you get the idea?"

He looked over to the wall with an ashamed look washed over his face, "I got the idea from a movie I watched the night I got out of prison," he explained, "I was so down, so I just decided to 'do it'."

"Go on, how did you do it?" Gibbs asked.

"Well, since I didn't plan very well, I just snuck into the Navy Yard with an old friend's alias then found a hiding place in the bullpen. I was so close, I could hear Agent DiNozzo and David arguing about a bet involving a drink, so I perked up and ran to my car. I waited for Tony to come out and get into his car so I could follow him. When I noticed where we were pulling into, I pulled out the," he paused and looked at the two agents that were staring him down for they knew all of this was coming to an end, "poison and snuck into the restaurant, found the order," he bit his lip, "deposited it, slipped out and went back to the Navy Yard then a few minutes later I saw Agent Gibbs in the square of the Yard, so I snuck around the edge of it, and when I saw he was ordering a Caf-Pow, I decided to poison that as well, I figured I may as well poison the leader of the team, I never thought it'd go to someone else…Well, I think I've admitted to everything…what happens now?"

Gibbs sighed taking in this news, but quickly composed himself, "Yes, you are done. We'll have the local police pick you up, for now, we'll take you to the holding cell."

As McGee heard that, he could feel this huge weight being lifted off of his shoulders and he as he smiled he whispered, "It's finally over."

* * *

_Guest Reviews_

_Zoey: Yes, you are right, 2 chapters a week is a bit too much for me at the moment! I only have one chapter left in this story, so I won't be able to! Thank you SO much for reviewing! They make my day! ~Lynn D._


	12. Answers

_A/N: After much re-writing of this chapter, it's finally here! The only thing I ask you guys to do is, read it slowly! I think it'll have more effect if you don't rush through it! Thank you all for staying with the story this long! ~Lynn D._

* * *

The dinging of Abby's mas-spectrometer woke her from her nap in the next room. She sat up, then hurriedly ran into the main part of her lab.

Looking at the screen of the machine, she lifted her hand to push the button that would give her, and the team the results they so desperately wanted.

She let out a deep breath then pushed it. It reliably revealed that there were in fact very high levels of poison.

* * *

McGee ran over to his desk hearing results coming from his computer after taking a call for Gibbs. He swiftly sat down and clicked his mouse excitedly to get not only more answers, but convicting evidence. As he was scrolling through the footage, he heard his Boss talking with someone, he figured was Abby as he was coming back into the bullpen.

McGee's eyes drifted back to his monitor and a few moments later he scrolled to a fairly clear picture of Brice on the Navy Yard loitering around the Caw Pow stand. A few frames later, he found a shot of him extending his arms towards a cup, "Got him!"

After hanging up from speaking with Abby, Gibbs walked over to McGee's desk, "What'd you find, Tim?"

McGee made a mental note that his boss had called him Tim, then carried on. "I found the footage of Brice, er…messing with both their drinks."

"Great job, Tim!" Gibbs smiled as he headed back to his desk.

McGee cocked his head to side, still confused why his Boss was being so kind to him.

* * *

Back at Abby's apartment, the girls were resting on the couch flipping channels on the TV. While they were comfortable, McGee was busy sending the security tape footage and Abby's results to the police, he was very happy to finally have all this behind him. After hitting send, he checked his watch; noticing it was a little past 6:30, he decided it was time for dinner.

A little while later when their lasagna was almost done, McGee began to set the table. Right when he was starting, Gibbs and Tony came in. Sniffing the air, Tony smiled, "Pasta?"

"You got it!" McGee smiled, always amazed how his co-worked could detect food a mile away. "Boss, did you already finish your paperwork?"

"Nah, I brought it here. There's no reason I have to do it at the office."

Once all the dishes were put away, both girls were yawning and took the open opportunity to head to bed. Gibbs looked up from the dining table where he was finishing the last paragraph of the whole case.

A few moments later, he got up and headed into Abby's room.

Tony and McGee both looked up from their papers, wishing they could be a fly on the wall in there.

Quietly, Gibbs entered into the Goth's room and sat down on the side of the bed. To his surprise, Abby was still awake, "Abs? What's up?"

She looked up, reading his face, "Gibbs, you know what's up."

He looked down and she could tell he was beginning to get emotional, "Abby, I—I'm sorry. You weren't supposed to get sick, it," he paused, "it was meant for me."

She sat up hurriedly and gave him one of her famous hugs, "Gibbs, this was NOT your fault! Nobody could've known what was going on." He leaned back, "It _should _have been me. If I would've lost you, I don't think I could've gone on." He said, being brutally honest.

By now, tears were coming down both of their cheeks. Abby wiped hers, then took a deep breath, "When I went to the lab today, I went in on a hunch, and," she paused, "and, I ended up being right, I found out how Brice continued poisoning us, Gibbs," she said as he lifted his head straighter, "he laced our headache pills with it. I—I just thought you'd want to know."

A mixture of shocked and relieved emotions crossed the agent's face, "Oh Abs, I don't know what to say!"

Lifting the pressure of the room, Abby giggled, "That's a first!"

Gibbs brushed a hand across his face, "After Brice told me the poison was meant for me, I forgot to ask him that." He abruptly stood up and began to mentally kick himself for his mistake.

Abby smiled at her boss, then stood up, "Gibbs," she said with some force, "come here." Looking at her, he walked over, "Gibbs nobody is perfect, you've got to let this go. Look, I still have the results, and it will still be held against him."

"Abs, that's not what's bothering me, it's that I was more concerned about myself than my job."

"Gibbs," Abby snickered, "that's called being human!"

Gibbs nodded his head, closing the space between them, he brought her into his arms and held her to feel her heartbeat, he needed the reassurance that his little girl was okay.

* * *

Giving up on Gibbs coming back for awhile, Tony stood to go into Ziva's room, leaving McGee to his paper. They'd been bickering half the time on who was a noisier reader. Living together for the past week was beginning to get on their nerves, now that they knew the girls would be okay.

Going into her room and cautiously peeked from the door, "Ziva?" he whispered, "You awake?" Without hearing a response for a few moments he turned to leave when he was stopped in his tracks.

"Tony?" she wondered as she turned over.

He walked over to her bedside, "I just wanted to make sure you were feeling alright."

She looked at him for a few moments trying to find the words she'd been bottling up for years, then took a deep breath, "Tony, being in the situation I was, made me think," she paused, "think about what I have and what I never want to lose."

Noticing Ziva was becoming teary eyed, Tony laid his hand on hers to give her as much support as he could. "Tony, you are one of the things I could never bear to have missing in my life. I want you close, closer than you have ever been before," looking into his welling up eyes, she leaned into him and whispered into his ear, "Tony, I need you in my life."

Taking a moment to take all of this in, he wiped a stray tear away and brought Ziva into his arms and whispered back, "I'm here for as long as you need me."

A smile graced her lips, "I was thinking forever."

Pulling his head off her shoulder, he looked her in the eyes, "David," he paused and softly kissed her, then continued, "I think that can be arranged."

* * *

While Tony was in Ziva's room, McGee was beginning to get a little lonely, for he'd finished his paper awhile ago. Just as he was about to go get a drink, Gibbs came out of Abby's room after she'd fallen asleep in Gibbs' arms. "McGee," Gibbs said, stopping Tim in his tracks.

"Yes Boss?"

"Sit down." He said, pointing towards the dining table.

As he was sitting down, he looked at his boss curiously, "What'd I do?"

Gibbs chuckled, "You didn't do anything, I wanted to apologize for something."

A look of pure shock crossed McGee's face, "Apologize? But Bo—"

Gibbs cut him off, "Look McGee, no but's. I realized while you were taking care of Abby and Ziva just how responsible you are, and I haven't been using you to your full potential, and for that I am sorry."

McGee put his head down, a little flustered, "I'm just doing my job!"

"Tim, that's my point. I haven't been giving you enough respect for what you do in your job. If you don't mind, I'd like to start working with you more next week in training you to become a better agent to go along with your computer skills."

A genuine smile crossed McGee's face, "Thank you Boss, I would really like that! I won't let you down!"

* * *

A few weeks later McGee had greatly improved in his shooting and tactics which was confusing Tony but he definitely wasn't complaining, Tony and Ziva's relationship was going strong after Tony had gained Gibbs' okay to break rule #12, McGee and Abby's relationship had been brought to a whole new level which was growing every day, and Gibbs was keeping a close eye on the 2 new couples very carefully, but deep down in his heart he was thrilled for them.

After losing his soul mate, seeing young love made him happy. Many people were opposed to his rule #12, but he'd made it as a guideline to keep his agents in line. But, he was in no position to keep two people who loved each other apart.

* * *

Enveloped in the sun, the team was relaxing in the park on a blanket on a quiet Sunday morning, literally draped over each other. Tony and Ziva were both asleep with Ziva resting on Tony's chest, McGee and Abby were playing a quite game of double solitaire, and Gibbs was resting up on one arm reading the paper.

Quietly Ziva began to wake up which made Tony wake up, "Zi? You okay?"

Smiling at her new nickname, she snuggled more into his chest, "Perfect." As she began to go back to sleep, she felt the sun on the side of her face and released all the stress she had bottled up over the week then began to take in all the new moments so she could make new memories with what she believed was her second chance at life.

Right before she fell asleep her favorite quote popped into her head, 'When your mind says give up, hope whispers one more try.'

**The End**

* * *

_A/N: Wow, I never thought I'd ever be able to put those two words at the end of something I'd written before! It was a true priveladge to write this for you guys, and myself! I am sad this story is ending, but, I have some new ideas for more! I should have a surprise up for you guys next week! Make sure to remember to review! I love to hear favorite parts! ~Lynn D._


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